Canucks at Night: A penalty, but what else?

Vancouver Canucks' Elias Pettersson lies injured on the ice after Montreal Canadiens' Jesperi Kotkaniemi, not shown, took him down from behind during the second period. Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Kotkaniemi was not looking to hurt Pettersson. You don’t need to convince me of that.

But when you watch this, it’s baffling to say it’s not a penalty.

Green: Two guys get tangled. I've watched it a lot of times. It's not a dirty play by their player at all. He gets hooked a little bit. Petey actually pushes back on him a bit in a reverse hit… two young guys fall to the ice. It's not a penalty. #Canuckspic.twitter.com/HRwrXupwMx

It’s also baffling to suggest Pettersson did much of anything to contribute.

He got hooked back, and Kotkaniemi got a fistful of sweater while throwing what amounted to a poor rugby tackle. (Believe me, I know my weak tackles.)

That a referee, trailing the play, isn’t watching for stuff like this is somewhat baffling.

Jacob Markstrom went and pleaded his case for a call. He said he went to the nearest referee and told them what he saw, which was the play moving up ice, Pettersson looking to follow it but being hauled back.

“Two minute interference,” he argued. Most of us are inclined to agree.

The referee wasn’t apparently watching until the two players were down in a heap.

By then, Pettersson’s knee had caught itself back underneath his body, twist in a way that cause many in the stands and the press box to cringe. Knees aren’t meant to do that.

Now, the hopeful news is that Pettersson was walking around post-game.

But that’s beside the point.

This is a young star player. You’re not going to prevent every mugging. It just would be nice to have a league that buckles down on stupid little things like this.

If Kotkaniemi doesn’t go to pull him back or whatever it was he was trying to do, we’re not having this discussion. Maybe Pettersson would have gone on to wow the crowd, something he had done a few times before he left the game just shy of 26 minutes of playing time in.

That’s the thing that irks. Pettersson was getting the chance to show himself to be the elite talent he is on the biggest stages. Ottawa isn’t a big stage but it is in Canada, in the Eastern Time zone.

National commentators got to watch him in prime time.

On this Thursday, he did some sensational things for a period and a bit on the second-biggest stage this league has.

And now it seems he’ll be denied the biggest stage.

That’s a real shame.

About the push back

In the game story, I was somewhat incredulous there wasn’t even a face wash from the Canucks.

I asked Erik Gudbranson about it and while he admitted they talked about some sort of response, “win the game” overruled it all, again.

The thing is, I asked him about maybe giving the Habs rookie a shove or a bit of heat. I guess he thought I meant dropping the mitts and going really hard after him, because he said they couldn’t risk a seven minute power play against him.

But that’s the thing. I think most people understand that this team, which still hold some playoff hopes, is looking chiefly at the win. They get that going wild, ripping one’s sweater and gear off and causing mayhem just isn’t done anymore.

Just want a shove. A facewash, maybe.

It perhaps seems like a silly thing to ask for, but there’s emotional satisfaction there.

In October, I noted that the Canucks were right to turn the other cheek in that context. But that injury to Pettersson really did happen in crunch time.

There was plenty of game left when this one happened. And it was only 1-0 then.

Remember the pushback against Tampa? Everyone loved that. And Tampa are the best team in the league. The Habs are good, sure. But c’mon.

Oh hey, remember who’s coming to town at the end of next week…yes those Florida Panthers

(By the way, the Panthers play in Calgary on Friday night. They’re taking an off day on Saturday, so the first time they’ll face the media will be pre-game Sunday.)

A reminder of there’s still work to do

With the late power play and the early goalie pulled, we got a reminder that there are still some glaring gaps in this squad.

(Horvat and Boeser, with all that power play time, both played more than 26 minutes tonight.)

At some points, you’re going to see guys on the ice who will prompt some grimaces. But that’s the nature of the beast right now.

The #Canucks were down two goals, net empty, and had Loui Eriksson, Markus Granlund and Chris Tanev on the ice with less than a minute remaining.

Like, if Pettersson were healthy, that rotation doesn’t look like that. Heck even if Josh Leivo were healthy, that would make a difference.

(Oh you want me to mention the winger in the press box? Yeah, he could too.)

The point is, better teams don’t get forced into these dilemmas. Here’s hoping that changes as soon as next season. (Hi, Quinn Hughes, we’re looking at you.)

The Goldy scratch

The Leivo injury didn’t open the door for Goldobin. You could understand why taking one of your better offensive talents out of the lineup on Wednesday, when the Canucks took on the league’s worst team.

But against the Canadiens, a tough team who you knew the chances would be few, surely there was a space for him.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.